V23 #2 Spring 2002 - Archives - The Evergreen State College

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Slightly West
Slightly West, Evergreen's literary magazine, was launched late in
1985 by a Jewish student group called Maarava ("westward" in Hebrew).
In a recent issue, editor Jon-Mikel Gates muses on the magazine's quirky
title. "Why west?" he asks. "Why slight? Clearly, a great deal of thought
went into this name."
Well, actually, no. In the mid-1980s, an earlier effort called Rhetoric ceased
publication, and Maarava stepped in to fill the gap. The director, Brian
Seidman, simply intended to name the new magazine after the organization.
Someone told him in passing that Maarava didn't mean "west" exactly, but
rather something more like "slightly west." Accurate or not, the title stuck.
The first issue, dated winter 1986, was really just a stapled stack of paper,
printed on one side only and scattered with drawings of turtles. Shortly after
its release, and convinced by Brian's commitment, a half-dozen students,
including me, came forward, eager to help.
For the spring issue, we sifted through a huge stack of new submissions and developed a more
sophisticated format. The final product was classy and compact. To celebrate, we hosted a long
and memorable reading, with topics ranging from Sri Chinmoy to a goat named
Jim Bob Davis. You could feel the excitement in the room, as if we had uncovered a great secret:
the power of words to bring us other worlds, the power that belongs to everyone.
Launching the SeaWulff
1982
Before Enron and WTO: Students
debate draining domestic economy
by U.S. multinationals; Rudy Martin
defines secular humanism
—Steve Blakeslee '86,
Adj unct faculty
The Tacoma program,
which began unofficially
in 1972, becomes an
official part of Evergreen
1983
Fire claims home of Mud Bay
Greeners, staging area for
annual mud races
Evergreen President Dan Evans
leaves to fill unexpired term of
Henry Jackson in U.S. Senate;
Start of MES graduate program
Evergreen named best regional
liberal arts college in the West
for the first time by U.S. News
& World Report
' '
!
Falling in Love
l! . ft 1f!''r'l:'*p.;i^#l*>:.;i*£::
M
Super Saturday continues its tradition of being the largest one day festival in Washington state.
The first Super Saturday celebration took place in 1979 and drew about 4,000 people.
From the first day I set foot on the Evergreen campus, I was struck by the philosophy of the place. The attitude was not "Welcome to Evergreen,
here's the rulebook," but rather "Welcome to Evergreen, what would you like to accomplish here? You decide!" What I experienced at Evergreen
was the ideal balance between personal freedom and personal mentoring from faculty.
In my first year, I opted for an upper-level class in philosophy, technically "off limits" to freshmen. Nothing special about me, that was simply the
modus operandi of the college (may it ever be so!). The prof warned me, "It'll be tough. I'm not cutting you any slack. You probably won't finish."
1984
Student Elissa Tissot shot and
killed in the Greenery by
despondent ex-boyfriend;
Enrollment reaches 2,800
The class was tough. But it was also terrific, and I did manage to squeak through. At the end,
he gave me some advice: "Your thinking is sloppy. You hide behind your prose. My advice is to
\ take some hard-core science courses. You either know the stuff or you don't—there's no place
to hide. You may discover that you're not as smart as you think."
John McKinney with his mom, Jo Stowell
Computer DTP sees electronic
campus by 1989; Faculty propose
several initiatives to bring diversity
to curriculum and college
I took his advice (thanks, Mark Levensky), and it changed my life. I fell passionately, hopelessly
in love—with science (thanks, Betty Kutter). I'm now on the faculty at Rockefeller University
in Manhattan. My laboratory (www.rockefeller.edu/labheads/mckinney/mckinney.html)
studies tuberculosis (TB), a leading cause of death worldwide. Rivaled only by HIV-AIDS
as an infectious killer, TB gets scant attention because 99 percent of its victims live in the
developing world. My research team's goal is to develop new tools for TB control that are
effective, affordable and applicable, even in the poorest countries. Our work takes us to every
corner of the globe, but wherever we go, I find that "you decide!" is a philosophy that invites
mutual respect and goodwill.
John McKinney, '82
1985
C Dorm burns; Led by Paul
Gallegos, students collaborate
with St. Martin's and SPSCC to
bring Jesse Jackson to town
Tropicana, Olympia's first punk
rock club, closes; U.S. Wews &
World Report profiles Evergreen as
one of three "academic pioneers"
Washington Center for
Improving the Quality of
Undergraduate Education
created, housed at Evergreen
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